Fire shuts down Stanford linear accelerator

MENLO PARK, Calif. (AP) — The linear accelerator at Stanford University’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory in California was shut down Thursday and two research labs idled after a fire damaged electrical equipment that helps power the accelerator, a lab spokesman said.

SLAC spokesman Andrew Gordon said he didn’t know what, if any, impact the shutdown would have on research. SLAC conducts research in high-energy physics and subatomic particles.

“Efforts to restart the operation are underway, but there is no estimate on when it will be back in operation,” he said. “We’re still assessing the situation.”

Firefighters were called to the lab shortly before 10 p.m. Wednesday. Callers reported heavy black smoke coming from the 2-mile-long accelerator structure, which runs beneath Interstate 280 about 30 miles south of San Francisco.

The fire was confined to a school-locker-size electrical cabinet in a building above the accelerator, Gordon said. The cause was under investigation.

There was some minor smoke damage around the cabinet, but the accelerator itself was not damaged, Gordon said.

Both Gordon and Schapelhouman said there was no threat to the public.

SLAC, which stands for Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, was established in 1962 with the goal of accelerating electrons to nearly the speed of light for experiments in creating, identifying and studying subatomic particles, according to the center’s website. It’s one of 10 Department of Energy Office of Science laboratories.

One of the two labs that were idled studies technologies that will power the next generation of particle accelerators. The other uses an X-ray laser to capture atomic-scale snapshots that can show never-before-seen structures and properties in matter, according to SLAC’s website.

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